Bed and breakfast accommodation in Viterbo Monasteries

Viterbo, northern Lazio’s largest town, lies an hour north of Rome. Its heyday was the Middle Ages, when it was a favoured place for different popes to escape their troubles in Rome. Their legacy is the walled centro storico, packed with grand palaces and fine churches. 

The entire city has an intensely medieval atmosphere, best appreciated by exploring the San Pellegrino neighbourhood, a tight mass of hilly streets dotted with towers and medieval walkways. The heart of the city is Piazza del Plebiscito, a fine square encircled by 15th- and 16th-century buildings. From here, head to Piazza San Lorenzo to see the 13th-century Palazzo dei Papi, with its Gothic loggia overlooking the green gorge that cuts through Viterbo’s centre. Opposite is the austere and beautiful Romanesque Duomo, with its superb columns and Cosmatesque (mosaic) floors. There are several good museums, including a Museo Archeologico, the Museo Civico and one devoted to maiolica.

Founded by the Etruscans, the settlement became Roman Tuscia; its modern name derives from the Latin vetus urbs, ‘old city’. In medieval times it was an easy journey from Rome, making it the obvious place for any Pope’s escape from Rome that could be both lawless and chaotic. In 1257 Pope Alexander IV fled here and made Viterbo his capital, and it remained a papal base on and off until the 14th century, finally becoming part of the Papal States in 1431. During the Middle Ages many of the conclaves held to elect a new pope were held here, with cardinals sometimes spending months making the decision. The election of Gregory X was a case in point; after 33 months without a Pope, Viterbo’s Capitano locked the dithering cardinals in the Palazzo dei Papi and stopped sending in food, an action which wonderfully focussed their minds.